tall, skinny praying mantis, and jerry robbins, with a little beret, like the little french kind of street guy. they were so close personally, which added to the fun of it. they knew each other inside out and upside down. narrator: robbins stopped dancing in 1952 to concentrate on choreography. by then, he had created provocative and dramatic works like "the guests," a ballet about prejudice and "age of anxiety," an exploration of mid-century angst which gave a new dimension to new york city ballet's repertory. in "the cage," a controversial portrait of a deadly mating rite, he found a new instrument in an old friend -- the ballerina nora kaye. but the piece began with stravinsky's music. robbins: i played the record and i thought, "wow, there's something going on here. what the hell did he have in mind?" so i read everything i could. i could get no cues from it. but i kept playing it. and i thought, "it's a very odd ballet. but i know there's a dramatic line in it somewhere or other." and then i read a story about the amazons and i thought, "why don't i do it about the amazons?" so i star